The
Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel (
CBBT) is a 23-mile-long (37 km) fixed link crossing the mouth of the United States' Chesapeake Bay and connecting the Delmarva Peninsula's Eastern Shore of the state of Virginia with Virginia Beach and the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The bridge–tunnel
originally combined 12 miles (19 km) of trestle, two 1-mile-long
(1.6 km) tunnels, four artificial islands, four high-level bridges,
approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) of
approach roads—crossing the Chesapeake Bay and preserving traffic on the
Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake shipping channels. It replaced vehicle ferry services which operated from South Hampton Roads and from the Virginia Peninsula from the 1930s until completion of the bridge–tunnel in 1964. The system remains one of only ten bridge–tunnel systems in the world, three of which are located in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Since it opened, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel has been crossed by more than 100 million vehicles. The CBBT complex carries U.S. Route 13, the main north–south highway on Virginia's Eastern Shore, and, as part of the East Coast's longstanding Ocean Highway, provides the only direct link between the Eastern Shore and South Hampton Roads regions, as well as an alternate route to link the Northeast and points in between with Norfolk and the Carolinas. The bridge–tunnel saves motorists 95 miles (153 km) and 1½ hours on a trip between Virginia Beach/Norfolk and points north and east of the Delaware Valley without going through the traffic congestion in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. The $12 toll is partially offset by some savings of tolls in Maryland and Delaware on I-95.
Financed by toll revenue bonds, the bridge–tunnel was opened on April 15, 1964. It was officially named the
Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge–Tunnel
in August 1987 after one of the civic leaders who had long worked for
its development and operation. However, it continues to be best known as
the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel. From 1995 to 1999, at a cost of
almost $200 million, the capacity of the above-water portion was
increased to four lanes. An upgrade of the two-lane tunnels was proposed
but has not been carried out.
The CBBT was built by and is operated by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District, a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia governed by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission. The CBBT's costs are recovered through toll collections. In 2002, a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study commissioned by the Virginia General Assembly
concluded that "given the inability of the state to fund future capital
requirements of the CBBT, the District and Commission should be
retained to operate and maintain the Bridge–Tunnel as a toll facility in
perpetuity."
Construction
In the summer of 1960, the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Commission sold $200 million in toll revenue bonds
to private investors, and the proceeds were used to finance the
construction of the bridge–tunnel. Funds collected by future tolls were
pledged to pay the principal and interest on the bonds. No local, state,
or federal tax funds were used in the construction of the project.
Construction contracts were awarded to a consortium of Tidewater Construction Corporation and Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation. The steel superstructure for the high-level bridges near the north end of the crossing were fabricated by the American Bridge Division of United States Steel Corporation.
Construction of the bridge–tunnel began in October 1960 after a
six-month process of assembling necessary equipment from worldwide
sources.
The tunnels were constructed using the technique refined by Ole Singstad with the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel,
whereby a large ditch was first dug for each tunnel, into which was
lowered pre-fabricated tunnel sections cable-suspended from overhead
barges. Interior chambers were filled with water to lower the sections,
the sections then aligned, bolted together by divers, the water pumped
out, and the tunnels finally covered with earth.
The construction was accomplished under the severe conditions imposed by nor'easters, hurricanes, and the unpredictable Atlantic Ocean. During the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962,
much of the partially completed work and a major piece of custom-built
pile driver barge called "The Big D" were destroyed. Seven workers were
killed at various times during the construction. In April 1964, 42
months after construction began, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel opened
to traffic and the ferry service discontinued.
One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World
Following the CBBT's opening in 1964, it was selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE) as "One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World" in
a worldwide competition that included more than one hundred major
projects.
The individual components of the bridge–tunnel are not the longest or
the largest ever built. However, the total project was unique in the
number and different types of major structures included in one
crossing – including trestles, tunnels, artificial islands, bridges,
causeway, and approach roads – and that it was built under adverse
conditions and for adverse conditions.
The CBBT is no longer on the ASCE list, having been replaced by a more recent engineering wonder.
Future
While there has been planning work done to expand tunnel capacities
as well, the facility currently continues to utilize only the original
two-lane tunnels.
Plans to replace the two-lane tunnels with new and deeper four-lane
versions were postponed indefinitely in 2005 at the direction of the
Virginia General Assembly. Debate centered around the facts that while
greater bay shipping and security would be enhanced by replacing the
existing tunnels, the traffic counts and substantial cost estimates
dictate that improvements for other water crossings in the Hampton Roads
area may become higher priorities. The estimated cost of replacing the
tunnels was $900 million. In 2012, it was reported that permitting and
design work for a parallel Thimble Shoal tunnel is scheduled to start in
fiscal year 2017, with construction to begin in 2021. The estimated
cost for just one tunnel is about $1 billion (planning for a parallel
Chesapeake Channel tunnel is not included in the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
and Tunnel District's planning horizon, which extends out to 2031).
Despite Virginia's deepening unmet transportation needs in the years
since, the finances of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel Commission have
been kept separately as recommended to the General Assembly in a 2002
report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). The
study concluded that "given the inability of the state to fund future
capital requirements of the CBBT, the District and Commission should be
retained to operate and maintain the bridge–tunnel as a toll facility in
perpetuity.
Tourism
The CBBT promotes the bridge–tunnel as not only a transportation
facility to tourist destinations to the north and south, but as a
destination itself. For travelers headed elsewhere, the bridge–tunnel
can save more than 90 miles (140 km) of driving for those headed between
Ocean City, Maryland, Rehoboth Beach, Fenwick Island, and Wilmington, Delaware (and points north) and the Virginia Beach area or the Outer Banks of North Carolina,
according to the CBBT district. Unlike the Interstate highways that
travelers would avoid by taking the bridge–tunnel, however, the roads in
the shortcut have traffic lights.
On the Delmarva peninsula to the north of the bridge, travelers may visit nearby Kiptopeke State Park, Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, campgrounds and other vacation destinations. To the south are tourist destinations around Virginia Beach, including First Landing State Park, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia Beach Maritime Historical Museum, Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum, and the Virginia Aquarium and Maritime Science Center.
Drivers may stop at both the scenic overlook at the north end of the
bridge and at Sea Gull Island, near the south end. At Sea Gull Island,
passing ships may include U.S. Navy warships, nuclear submarines, and
aircraft carriers, as well as large cargo vessels and sailing ships. The
CBBT authority runs a restaurant and gift shop on the island. Fishing
is encouraged from the 625-foot-long (191 m) pier, which is open 24
hours a day, year-round. Restrooms, fish-cleaning stations, and a
certified fish weighing station are at the pier. Bluefish, trout,
croaker, flounder, and other species have been caught from the pier.
Since birds use the habitat created by the bridges and islands of the
CBBT, birders have travelled to the bridge–tunnel to see them at Sea
Gull Island and the scenic overlook at the north end.
Dimensions
Among the key features of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel are two 1-mile (1.6 km) tunnels
beneath Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake navigation channels and two pairs
of side-by-side high-level bridges over two other navigation channels:
North Channel Bridge (75 ft or 22.9 m clearance) and Fisherman Inlet
Bridge (40 ft or 12.2 m clearance). The remaining portion comprises 12
miles (19 km) of low-level trestle, 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and four man-made islands.
The CBBT is 17.6 miles (28.3 km) long from shore to shore, crossing
what is essentially an ocean strait. Including land-approach highways,
the overall facility is 23 miles (37 km) long (20 miles or 32 kilometres
from toll-plaza to toll-plaza) and despite its length, there is only a height difference of 6 inches
(152 mm) from the south to north end of the bridge–tunnel.
Man-made islands, each approximately 5.25 acres (2.12 ha) in size,
are located at each end of the two tunnels. Between North Channel and
Fisherman Inlet, the facility crosses at-grade over Fisherman Island, a barrier island which is part of the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The columns that support the bridge–tunnel's trestles are called
piles. If placed end to end, the piles would stretch for about 100 miles
(160 km), roughly the distance from New York City to Philadelphia.
